Dianes’s OU-COM Interview Experience:

For the students who are planning on getting to OUCOM the night before the interview, I recommend staying at the Holiday Inn Express or the Ohio University Inn. From all the reviews I read online, those two seem to be the most comfortable. I stayed at the Holiday Inn for about $100, so it wasn’t too bad; and another girl from my group stayed at the OU Inn and loved it.

The interview day is from 830am-330pm. We had a group of 12 interviewees that day and everyone was really friendly; I’m pretty sure everyone was from Ohio. We spent the first hour or so in a conference room and Dr. Schriner from Admissions talked to us about the admissions process, the curriculum, clinical rotations, etc. Then someone from Financial Aid came to discuss loans, FAFSA, etc. Afterwards, our host for the day, Ginny Valentin (from Admissions) gave us a tour of the facilities and the 2 buildings where the med students have class.

Because not all the students who enter OUCOM have the same anatomy exposure, the first month of med school is basically an anatomy immersion program. This is before students decide whether they want to pursue the Patient-Centered Curriculum (PCC) track or the Clinical-Presentation Curriculum (CPC) track. The anatomy lab is pretty nice. There are about 8 screens hanging from the ceiling, so the professor can demonstrate things and all the students can get a good view of it. I think the room holds 24 cadavers (not sure exact number). The OMM lab was big. Large demonstration area in the center, with screens for students to watch from. Nice OMM tables, not the older wooden ones.

Afterwards, they fitted us for our white coats and took ID pictures. We thought it was kind of weird, but I assume this reduces the number of things that need to be done when the students attend orientation at the end of July. Had a delicious lunch, where we had time to chat with some current med students. Interviews were right after lunch, between 1-330pm.

Each student had at least 3 1/2-hr interviews; some had 4 or 5 (if DO/PhD). They were very casual and the interviewers were super nice. It really felt more like a conversation than an interview. I was pretty nervous about them, but right when I walked in the door, I could tell that it wouldn’t be as bad as I expected. And they weren’t! Almost every interviewer asked “Why DO? Why OUCOM?” One asked about my strengths and weaknesses; another asked about my greatest challenge in life so far and how I handled it; why would you be a good fit at OUCOM? The majority of questions came from my file; ie. talk about volunteering, shadowing, etc. Almost all the questions were posted on the SDN Interview Feedback site, so that’s definitely a great resource.

After the interviews, we were done for the day. After the students leave, the interviewers meet and make their final decision that day (Friday). Acceptances are emailed out that following Monday and that day, the official letters are mailed out as well. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and the Admissions Staff was amazing! You could really tell that OUCOM is a supportive community and all the students seem to love it there. When we were walking between buildings to get to our interviews, current students who were in class would wish us good luck and it just felt good to be there!

Forgot to mention:

During the interview day, we also had a van tour of the area around OUCOM, the city of Athens, “uptown” (it’s actually downtown, but you have to go up a hill), and places where current students live. It was nice to be able to check out the area outside of the school, since I probably wouldn’t have driven around on my own.